China (MNN) ― After months of pressure from the international community, the Chinese government released Pastor Shi Enhao early from his two-year sentence of hard prison labor.

According to Voice of the Martyrs, Canada’s source ChinaAid, there is still no explanation for Pastor Shi Enhao’s sudden release one year and six months early. The sentencing of Pastor Shi took place in July, 2011 when he was charged with “illegal meetings and illegal organizing of venues for religious meetings.”

Pastor Shi serves as Vice President of Chinese House Church Alliance, a group located along the eastern coastal province of Jiangsu. After his sentence in July, Chinese police confiscated church property including a church vehicle, choir robes, musical instruments, and 140,000 yuan (US$22,160).

Pastor Shi’s conviction and sentence isn’t the only example of persecution this Christian group has suffered. Four months after Pastor Shi’s arrest, various Chinese authorities including officials from the Three-Self Patriotic Church gathered the leaders of Chinese House Church Alliance.

At the gathering, officials told the church leaders that their organization was illegal. All members of Chinese House Church Alliance were ordered to begin attending the Three-Self Patriotic Church -- a church body established and controlled by the Chinese government -- or they would be arrested like their pastor.

ChinaAid publicly denounced the Chinese government, calling on them to “stop their persecution of Suqian Church and to uphold the rights of these citizens to religious freedom and to basic civil rights.” ChinaAid also listed Pastor Shi’s case as number 3 in their 2011 Top 10 Cases of Persecution of Churches and Christians.

The release of Pastor Shi was a tremendous relief, but the Chinese House Church Alliance is still being closely monitored by the Chinese government.

Please pray for strength among the believers as they seek freedom to worship the Lord. Praise God for Pastor Shi’s release and pray that those who are still suffering in prison for their faith may be granted justice.

Source: Mission Network News

Our friends at China Aid are reporting the following concerning Zhu Yufu.  Please add your prayers and share with your praying friends.

(Hangzhou, Zhejiang—Jan. 29, 2012) A longtime political dissident and baptized Christian, Zhu Yufu, is scheduled to go on trial on Tuesday for allegedly “inciting subversion of state power,” ChinaAid has learned.

Zhu was formally charged earlier this month after having been held in detention for 10 months in Hangzhou, coastal Zhejiang province.  He will be defended by at the trial before the Hangzhou Intermediate People’s Court by the well-known Christian human rights lawyers Li Baiguang and Li Duiyong of the Beijing Gongxin Law Firm.

Zhu’s political activism dates back to the 1979 Democracy Wall movement, and he had previously been imprisoned twice for a total of nine years. 

This time, he was summoned by police from the Wangjiang police station in the Shangcheng Sub-division on March 5, 2011 and taken into custody for a poem Zhu wrote and posted online around the time of the Arab “Jasmine Revolution” calling on people to take to the streets.

See ChinaAid’s earlier reports on Zhu’s case:   

http://www.chinaaid.org/2012/01/updates-one-christian-charged-with.html http://www.chinaaid.org/2011/05/christian-human-rights-law-firm-takes.html

Recently we reported that Gao Zhisheng was found alive in a prison in western China and we invited you to write Gao a letter while he is in prison. If you missed those posts you can read them here and here.

Today China Aid is reporting that Gao's brother has not been allowed entry to visit Gao in prison.

Gao Zhiyi, who had traveled several thousand miles to reach the desolate Shaya Prison, is now waiting in Shaya county for permission to see his brother, who had disappeared into official custody for more than 20 months before the Chinese government announced last month that he was being sent to prison to serve a three-year sentence.

Accompanied by Gao Zhisheng’s father-in-law and two sisters-in-law, Gao Zhiyi arrived at the prison after an arduous overland journey from inland China only to learn that no visits were permitted. Prison authorities told him that Gao was “not willing to see his relatives” and he is also under a three-month observation period. If he is deemed to have been cooperative during that period, he would be allowed visitors.

As you can imagine, this is a heartbreaking experience for the family.  Please remember to pray for Gao and his extended family. Learn more at China Aid.

I saw this important post over on the China Aid blog a few days ago, but due to the holidays didn’t have a chance to share it with you until today. As you know, if you’ve read this blog for any length of time, we’ve asked for your prayers for Gao Zhisheng and invited you to sign our petition at http://www.freegao.com. Thank you to all of you who have supported Gao through your prayers and support this past year. As you read the letter that Gao’s wife has written, please pray for her strength as well as for all of Gao’s family.

Going Home

Today should have been Gao Zhisheng’s first day back home

By Geng He

I remember one evening in September 2006, two domestic security protection officers suddenly showed up at my house, asking me, “Where have you hidden Gege?” It was only then that I suddenly realized that it was already past the time when my daughter should have returned home from school. Shocked, I started to cry and said to them, “You are the ones who follow my daughter to school. If anything’s happened to her, I’ll end my life.” Having confirmed that I had no idea where my daughter was, they then said to me, “We know where Gege is. Do you want her home?” I replied, “Of course. Where is she?” They said, “She is at Fan Yafeng’s. We’ll go there now.”

My son Tianyu and I got into their car, and saw them restlessly playing with the cover of their cellphones, opening and closing the cover, opening and closing … . When we got to Anzhen Bridge, where we should have turned right, they said fretfully that they needed to make a phone call first, and then abruptly made a U-turn, going back to the small supermarket near my home (where there is a pay phone). They kept saying to me, “You are your daughter’s guardian. Are you comfortable about a girl being at someone else’s home so late? If Fan Yafeng does not send her back right away, you’ll have to report it to the police and say ‘Fan Yafeng has kidnapped my daughter,’ etc., etc.”

After dialing Fan Yafeng’s cell phone number, they handed the phone to me. When I put the phone to my ear, I heard the ringtone playing the saxophone recording “Going Home”, which instantly made me cry. What a familiar and sweet tune! This “Going Home” saxophone rendition was what used to play as I completed the day’s grocery shopping. In step with this “Going Home” song, the whole family would walk back together to our guesthouse to rest. Accompanied by this “Going Home” song, we would go out to eat together…. Oh, the difference with what I am facing now is like the difference between earth and sky!

Where is my husband Gao Zhisheng? When can he start on the road to come home? The situation then is still fresh in my mind. Now, it’s been more than five years … yet the road home for us is still so far.

Geng He
December 22, 2011

Please read the full post at China Aid and pray for all Christians in China today.

Read Genesis 39.

For Joseph, slavery, Potiphar’s wife and prison were not detours from God’s will for his life. In fact, they were God’s will for his life. They were the path to the palace. They were not in the way; they were the way.

Circumstances and the people around you are not your enemy. They are God’s servants placed there to sanctify you and take you to higher ground.

Chinese pastor Zhang Rongliang realizes this truth. Rongliang, a founder of one of China’s largest churches of over ten million members, is also one of China’s most prominent pastors. The Chinese government fears and despises him — or perhaps, they fear the way God uses him.

God uses this man wherever he goes. He was released last month after seven years and six months in prison, convicted for a crime that usually only receives a six-month sentence.

Two major things happened during this time. You see, Chinese Christians are not allowed to visit prisons or start prison outreach ministries. So Rongliang took advantage of this opportunity. He ministered to everyone he could – prisoners, prison guards and officials he could never have met outside prison. Over 5,000 men lived in prison with Liang, and many of them were able to hear the good news of Jesus Christ.

While Rongliang ministered inside the prison, outside the prison, people throughout the world acted. Thousands of people wrote letters, the U.S. State Department worked to secure his release, and China Aid Association ardently supported Liang while also trying to gain his freedom. Even more people — countless people — prayed for his release.

I keep reading and re-reading something Rongliang said in an interview after his release; I can’t seem to stomach it.

“I am happy that you and others tried to arrange for my release, but in one way, I am happy that you failed. You almost made a big mistake. If you had been successful, there would be no church in that prison today.”

As I sit and ponder, I ask myself, “Was it a mistake to pray for his release?” I struggle with this idea — questioning my intentions, but the Holy Sprit speaks the undeniable, “I have a better plan,” into my heart.

If what I thought was best had actually happened, China would be without a significant ministry inside one of its prisons today. A pastor might have fewer problems, but 5,000 Chinese prisoners would not.

I should not have been so close-minded to think that the only answer God had was release.

When we pray only for someone’s release, we pray for what we think is best. However, His plan often looks much different than ours. We must depend on God and pray for His plan to be fulfilled.

Our activism, the letters we write and the petitions we sign may not have the effects we have in mind, but it does strengthen the church. Before Rongliang was released, he knew that he was supported. In an interview with a VOM contact, he mentioned multiple times how much the West supported him through prayers and letters.

Perhaps, all our activity on the outside kept him alive on the inside. We don’t know what our actions are really doing for someone. We do not know how God uses our activism.

I am more determined than ever to live as an activist.

If God uses my prayers to reach 5,000 people versus one person, let it be. After all, He is sovereign. He knows what needs to happen much more than I do.

So, what would you do if you knew you would fail?

Yesterday we shared some news from China Aid about Chen Guangcheng and his wife who were beaten severely because of their faith in Jesus Christ. Today we have a video of coverage of a reporter in China trying to find out more information about Chen and asking the question is Chen really a free man?

Please keep Chen and his family in your prayers.

Breaking and Urgent News coming from our friends at China Aid...

(Midland, Tex—Feb. 10, 2011) ChinaAid has just learned that on the evening of February 8 (because of the communication difficulty with the source, we are still reconfirming whether the incident occurred on 8th or 9th), Chen Guangcheng and his wife were beaten severely by officers from the Public Security Bureau of Linyi and Shuanghou (Chen's hometown).

The violence was inflicted because of the video the couple recorded, which ChinaAid released yesterday. Chen and his wife were beaten so severely that they are not able to move from their bed, and they were denied the right to go to the hospital for medical care.

"By taking further brutal action against this family,” said Bob Fu, president of China Aid Association, “the Chinese government has not only shown total contempt for the rule of law in China, but also its determination to continue this absolute wrong path toward more disregard of its own citizens’ basic rights and freedom." This morning, Bob Fu raised Chen's case, and another human rights defender raised Dr Fan Yafeng's case, in a meeting with Mr. Scott Busby, the director for the Human Rights Office of the White House National Security Council. Fu said, "We call for the leaders of the free world, especially the US and the European Union, to take immediate steps to help this family before more tragedies occur."

More subtitles will be available in the next few days for Chen's 5 videos:

Today, China Aid received and is authorized to release the following open letter to US leaders in light of deteriorating situation of China's renown legal blind activist Chen Guangcheng. The following is the text:

Dear Mr. President, Secretary of State and Congressmen, Greetings!

I believe you have already watched the video of Mr. Chen Guangcheng. In the video, Chen Guangcheng’s wife says that if something bad happens to them, they would like their friends to take care of their two children. They have prepared for the worst. This is the video of a blind person. They are doing their best and speak out to the world at the risk of their very lives. They will never succumb to tyranny and their motto is “Give me liberty or give me death.”

Ladies and gentlemen, we believe in America and the American values of equality to all, democracy and freedom. Today, a blind Chinese is trying to defend these values with his life.

I would like to remind you that the Chinese who are supporting and helping him are not the pro-democracy activists or human rights fighters in the traditional sense of the word. No, they are not these people. Instead, they are the people from the middle-class that is gradually expanding. They have donated their cars, high-end video equipment and their money. They are using the emerging Internet technology that they have mastered in the efforts to rescue Chen Guangcheng in the hope of promoting social progress in China. It is time for America to demonstrate once again the Americas values.

If America fails to demonstrate its values and its power in this incident, I believe that not only will people be disillusioned with American values but that America will lose the hearts of thousands and thousands of emerging middle class people in China.

Last night the VOM team produced and posted a brand new episode of the Persecution Podcast.  Here's a little bit more information for you.

     This week David discusses Iran, China, and Iraq. This week’s speaker shares updates from China.

And be sure to tune in to hear our good friend Bob Fu from China Aid.  Click here to listen now!!

Our good friends at China Aid need our prayers as their computers have been under attack, and if good information about the persecution in China, towards Christians cannot be seen, then that impairs the work of the ministry.

In a press release today China Aid reported:

The Chinese-language website of ChinaAid Association, which monitors and reports on religious persecution and other human rights abuses in China, and a bilingual companion website have both collapsed under cyber attacks that began Tuesday evening, the group said on Wednesday.
 
ChinaAid's Chinese-language website at www.chinaaid.net and its www.monitorchina.org website, which provides Chinese and English material about religious persecution and the rule of law, were both inaccessible as a result of the attacks. Heavy malicious traffic had repeatedly caused the website’s server, which is located in the United States, to crash. Its technical staff was still working hard Wednesday evening to restore the websites. ChinaAid’s mirror English-language site at www.chinaaid.org, which is hosted by a different server, had so far been unaffected.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE.

November 10, 2010

On Tuesday, November 7, 2010, kindergartens in Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan were raided by the Public Security Bureau (PSB), accompanied by officials from education bureaus.

Sun Haiping, wife of house church pastor Wang Dao, is in charge of the three schools. She is also part of the Chinese delegation, now in Washington, DC, focusing on democracy and religious freedom.

“If this was a normal school inspection, the PSB would not have been there, and it would have been led by the Education Bureau,” she said on Tuesday. “The schools are at risk of being shut down.”

During the invasions, PSB questioned teachers and children concerning where Sun was, and what her purpose was for traveling to the US. They also asked if the school owned Bibles or distributed them to students.

According to Sun, the schools where raided by police because she is visiting the United States to speak about democracy and religious freedom. Sun’s generous actions in the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquake were applauded by authorities, but now she is being targeted for speaking about the freedom and justice that the Chinese constitution promises, but the authorities withhold from citizens.

Please pray that Sun Haiping and Wang Dao will stay strong and faithful, and the children in these schools will be able to continue receiving quality education from these equipped believers.

More at China Aid